Female to male transmission is very inefficient, says Dr. Nancy Padian a professor in the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science at the University of California, San Francisco and the author of a 1996 10 year study of HIV infected heterosexual couples, the nation's longest and largest. She points out that “its two to three times easier for men to infect women.” But even so, if there are no other risk factors involved, the rate at which an infected man will transmit the virus to a woman is one in 1,100 sex acts.

assuming your not gay, a big assumption on a bodybuilding board, youre going to be fine.

oh and assumming yo dont share needles with ugandan sailors at the pier

this....people being made sooo scared of a disease that may not even exist.....heart disease kills way more people and i see nobody being hysterical about eating the right foods, not living a stressfull life etc etc... lol...and if you are straight, have a normal sexlife... changes are slim to none....you can also be struck by lightning or win a lottery....

and hpv and herpes are just a part of life lol...!about 80% of people have these 2 viruses btw, completely symptomfree....all these horror pics you see are EXTREME cases , again to scare you into buying as much condoms as you need, and do tests every time the condom breaks or you switch partners..... gee i wonder why that is?i am sure certain companies do not make any profit of this whole sex = dangerous and will kill you campaign...

and hiv is very deadly..... ask magic jonhson.... lol... there is so much that just doesn't add up about his whole hiv thing...they make people believe that you can catch it as quickly as a cold..., but were is the epedemic???almost nothing has changed in 30 years..... my gutfeeling senses a lot of bullshit....and my gutfeeling usually is correct....

I'm just talking about stuff like herpes, hpv, and bacterial infections. Not necessarily anything that will kill you but you would definitely like to avoid. The presence of other std's also makes it more likely for you to acquire hiv. This is because things such as herpes can cause open wounds on the penis that make it easier for hiv to enter the body. A lot of people believe this is one of the primary reasons that hiv is much more common among the heterosexual community in Africa. When people over there get an std, they are much less likely to have access to treatment and therefore are more prone to open sores. Without an open sore on your penis, the only way for it to enter your body is through the urethra, which is still possible but a very inefficient means of transmission. Women, on the other hand, have mucous membranes covering the entire inner lining of the vagina, which means there is a much larger surface area that could potentially be exposed. Vaginal fluids also have a lower concentration of hiv virus, on average, than semen does. Also, if you are circumcised, that lowers your odds by about 50% according to some studies.

The PCR blood test is the most sensitive that traces the virus itself and not the antibodies which is why it should be performed several days from the exposure I believe it 10 or 12 and no later unfortunately its not universally regarded for diagnostic purposes due to high rate of false positives and is expensive but you might be able to find a prevention program that offers it for free

The latest Elisa test does include the PCR which is often administered at the county clinic for cheap which reminds me if money is an issue considered the clinics in the gay and black community they usually offer free services

Hetero vaginal sex has low transmission rates. Anal sex however is very dangerous for the "taker".

Although unprotected receptive anal sex has long been shown to be the highest-risk sexual activity for men who have sex with other men, a study in the July 1 edition of The Journal of Infectious Diseases suggests that the risk to the insertive partner—or “top”—may be much higher than originally thought.

Researchers gauged levels of HIV RNA in the blood, semen, and rectal mucosa secretions of 64 HIV-positive gay and bisexual men visiting sexually transmitted disease clinics in Seattle and Lima, Peru. Surprisingly, HIV was detected at much higher levels in the rectal secretions than in either blood or semen. HIV was even present in the rectal fluids of men who were suppressing blood-based viral loads to undetectable levels through highly active antiretroviral therapy, according to the study.

About half of the men studied were on HAART regimens; the remainder were treatment-naive. The median viral load detected in all the study subjects’ blood was 17,400 copies; the median semen-based viral load was much lower, only 3,550 copies. But the median viral levels detected in rectal mucosa secretions—at 91,200 copies—was more than five times higher than that seen in blood and more than 25 times higher than detected in semen.

The viral load pattern held true for study subjects taking anti-HIV medications and for those who were not on antiretroviral regimens.

The data suggest that HIV-positive receptive anal sex partners—or “bottoms”—may be putting their partners at a higher risk for infection than originally thought, especially when engaging in unprotected sex. The risk might be particularly high for insertive partners who are uncircumcised, since previous studies have shown that the Langerhans cells, located on the foreskin, are especially susceptible to HIV infection and that semen, rectal secretions, and vaginal fluids can be easily trapped under the foreskin and placed into prolonged contact with the cells.

They also conclude that HIV viral levels in rectal mucosa may not be directly affected by the use of anti-HIV drugs, as are blood- and semen-based levels. This “may be due to differential levels of antiretroviral drugs or to anatomic and immunologic differences in the male genital tract versus rectal mucosa,” the researchers say.

The latest Elisa test does include the PCR which is often administered at the county clinic for cheap which reminds me if money is an issue considered the clinics in the gay and black community they usually offer free services

Unless he is worried about something that happened recently, as in the past 3 months, a PCR is not necessary.

I took an HIV test a few years back. It's pretty weird. You have to sign a waiver saying that you know that if it comes out positive, you are probably going to die. Oh , it came out negative in case you were wondering.

Many doctors say that people who are diagnosed with HIV today will live basically normal life spans as long as they stick to their HAART and live a healthy lifestyle. It also helps to begin HAART before the t-cell count gets too low. Over the past 20 years, HIV has changed from a death sentence to a disease more like diabetes.